Sequel
by Anonymous033
Summary: "' See, that's the thing about sequels,' he explains. ' You gotta make sure it's better than the first one, or people will just think it doesn't live up to the hype.'" Tony and Ziva, the days after they quit. Tag to 10x24 "Damned If You Do"; one-shot. Fluffy-ish.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own NCIS. Also, these get boring to do after a while.

**Spoilers: **Minor 10x24 "Damned If You Do."

**Dedication: **To Natalie, my inner Ziva.

**Okay, this is **the first fluffy thing I've written in a while :P surprise! This idea, too, belongs to someone else; it was born from a prompt by Natalie and sort of took on a life of its own. I hope you like it, because I really do!

**-_Soph_**

* * *

**Sequel**

The first time he joins her on her daily run, she is surprised. It's been almost a week since the team quit; she hasn't spoken to him and he hasn't spoken to her, and she's been expecting that it'll stay that way because, after all, haven't they always been that way?

He just smiles at her, though. Says, "I miss you."

She's okay with that.

* * *

He doesn't show up the next morning or the morning after next.

She's accepted by the third morning that it had just been an anomaly in their routine of uneventulness, the one time he jogged with her, so she's—again—surprised when he shows up a full seven days after that first time.

"Is this a weekly thing now?" she asks him, and his answering smile strikes her as a tiny bit shy.

"If you don't mind."

"I don't." Her fingers dare to brush his lightly, for the smallest of moments.

And she knows he's taken her reassurance for what it is, because he runs the entire God-knows-how-many-miles with her.

* * *

The 'weekly thing' goes on for about a month-and-a-half.

Then, one day, he shows up on a Thursday instead of a Sunday.

"You're three days early," she says, even though she's sure that her grin tells him she doesn't mind.

"I thought I'd shake things up a bit; keep you on your toes by showing up and going, 'Surprise!' every once in a while," he replies casually, and she throws her head back and laughs.

"You are an idiot, Tony."

"But you laughed," he retorts, and she acknowledges it with a tilt of her head. "It's the first time you've laughed—_really laughed—_since Bodnar, y'know."

That does make her sober a bit; and him, hesitate a bit.

But then she reaches for his hand and wraps her fingers tightly around his, and he squeezes, and they set off running that way.

She'll collapse onto the ground in giggles before they're even done with the first lap.

* * *

"I'm looking for a job," she tells him one morning after their run. His eyes dim. "I cannot survive on my savings forever."

"Neither can I." He sighs.

"I'm considering working for Citizenship and Immigration Services—seeing if I may teach an English class there or something. I do not know if they will want me, but it is worth a shot."

His lips twitch. "You can barely speak English, Zee-vah. How are you going to—"

She cuts him off. "I will have you know that they _did _find my English to be quite impressive. I have a working knowledge of—"

"I know, I know," he reassures her. "Good luck."

She nods. "Thanks. How about you?"

He shrugs. "Be a cop again, I guess."

She notes his less-than-happy tone. "Is it really that bad?"

"No, but it feels … a bit like a demotion. I just want to go back to the way things were, Ziva, but I know that's impossible."

She slips her hand into his. "At least you still have me."

He smiles. "There's that."

* * *

He gets a job before she does, and the night of their final run together, she takes him out to a bar to celebrate.

"To new beginnings," she says, and she knows he doesn't miss the fact that her uncertainties haunt her.

"And to endings that aren't really complete, and so give birth to sequels where the hot female lead is still there for the hot male lead to drag along on whole new adventures where there are lots of explosions and hot sex."

She can't decide whether to laugh or not.

* * *

"You know, I was kidding about the hot sex," he tells her with all the seriousness of a semi-drunken man later that night.

"I know you were. How could sex between us merely be _hot?_"

He smirks. "That's my Ziva."

She feels her eyes grow wet. "Will I see you again, Tony?"

"Why would you not?" He sounds surprised.

"Because you have a new life now, and I am still stuck where I am. And even if I weren't, the paths we have chosen will eventually become incompatible."

He shakes his head. "That's where you're wrong. I only know how to plan my life around you, Ziva."

Her heart skips a beat, and she gives a single laugh. "It is the booze talking."

"If it is, it must know me very well, because I'm speaking the truth."

"I never said you weren't. I merely said … that you might not remember this conversation when you wake up." She lifts and drops her shoulders.

"Maybe I won't, maybe I will. But our paths were incompatible the moment we quit, Ziva. Yet, I found you."

"So you did," she murmurs contemplatively, and she falls into deep thought before a hair-raising snore brings her out of it.

* * *

She makes him lunch on his first day of work.

She doesn't tell him that she's made him lunch, so his expression when he steps out of his workplace only to find her waiting on the front steps of the station lights something deep inside her belly.

"You came!" he all but gushes. "What are you doing here?"

"Finding you," she simply answers, and it seems like he's more than okay with that.

* * *

The lunches become a 'weekly thing,' too.

"I told ya you were gonna be coming along on this adventure with me," he tells her one day, and she makes a face at him.

"If I remember correctly, I forcefully inserted myself into your new life."

"Nonsense, David. If you hadn't shown up with lunch, I would've knocked down your door at dinner demanding to know why you didn't want me anymore."

"I could never not want you." The words fall out before she can stop herself, and they stare wide-eyed at each other.

* * *

"You could never not want me, huh?"

She rolls her eyes at his impish tone. "I didn't mean to say that, DiNozzo."

"But did you mean it?"

She pauses. For a moment, she is tempted to lie. But then she admits instead, "Yes."

He beams wider than he has that entire quarter of the year and kisses her on the cheek. "That's good," he replies, "because I think I might dig you a lot, David."

* * *

"I might … dig you too," she tells him the night she gets a job. "And by the way, I'm employed."

He clearly doesn't know what to say or which remark to address first. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?" he settles for exploding in a rather Abby-like manner. "Dinner, tomorrow, you and me. No excuses."

* * *

"Well, I wasn't expecting this kind of dinner."

She looks around at the roses and the candlelight and the glittering silverware and the peach-coloured tablecloths.

"You said you might dig me, too."

"I know, but…"

"Too soon?" he asks nervously.

"Too perfect."

"And that's not us?"

"Well…"

"See, that's the thing about sequels," he explains. "You gotta make sure it's better than the first one, or people will just think it doesn't live up to the hype. I'm making sure it's better, Ziva—or at least, _trying _to make sure it's better."

(And really, the glittering silverware is irresistible.)

"I could live with that," she says, and the _clink_ of their glasses leaves her with no doubt that he echoes her sentiment.

* * *

They're only that many minutes into their sequel, and already, she thinks it's the best movie to ever have been made.

* * *

**A/N: As mentioned in my previous fic, **I have decided to delete some of my stories so that my profile will be neater and easier to read. The fics are, in the order of Last Update, as follows:

_Family_

_Penance_

_Friction_

_Shell_

_The Screams Unheard_

_Kill_

_Flirt_

_For One Night_

_Circumstances_

_First_

_Lost_

_Tribulation_

_Stay_

_Rules_

_Greatness_

_His Gift_

_Pride in Indifference_

_Calliope_

You are free to save these stories if you want to; just please don't repost them as your own. Additionally, you can request them from me, and I will PM them to you. (never-give-up-hope2 - I'll get on that tomorrow, btw :) thanks for your request!) And ... that's it. I hope you had a good read!

-_Soph_


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